Cheesy Garlic Mushrooms

This is super simple: Fried mushrooms, with a cheesy sauce. It contains a mixture of pickled garlic, peppers and olives for extra taste, which you can by ready made.

500gr white mushrooms
3 table spoons Garlic Salad (pickled garlic, olives, peppers in vinegar)
1 pinch vegetable soup powder
30gr cheddar

In a pan fry the chopped mushrooms. After a few minutes add the garlic salad mix and a little vegetable soup powder for extra flavour.
After a few more minutes, add some cheese to bind the water in the pan - and you are done.
Photo credit: GTO350.

Pisto (Braised Vegetables)

This recipe is an absolute date-killer, because of the large amounts of garlic. But if you are not on the prowl, it is an absolutely delicious way of preparing your vegetables! Also, it can be eaten immediately after cooking, or alternatively let it cool down a bit, add some more olive oil and use it as a spread.

1 aubergine
1 zucchini
1 large onion
10 cloves of garlic (I mean it!)
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
3 tomatoes
olive oil, salt, pepper

Cut all the vegetables into small but chunky pieces. In a pan, heat some olive oil and add all the vegetables and the garlic (crushed). Fry on medium heat for about an hour, it should look somewhat very mushy. Season with salt and pepper and add a little extra virgin olive oil for extra taste. Enjoy :) !

Spinach & Tofu

A very easy recipe which works very well with flavoured tofu.

1 pack of fresh spinach
100g tofu (if possible with basil flavour)
30g pine nuts
1 onion
salt, garlic powder, pepper, olive oil

Cut the onion and the tofu in small pieces and fry all together in a little oil.
Clean the spinach, and add to the pot. Cover, and cook until the spinach is cooked.
Season with some salt, pepper and a little garlic powder. If you can't get basil-flavoured tofu, then you could add some freshly cut basil at this point, too.

Cabbage and Lentil Curry

1 green pointed cabbage
250g of red lentils
1 can of tomatoes
1 onion
Juice of 1 lemon
vegetable soup (powder), curry powder (mild or hot)

Cut the onion in small pieces and fry in a little oil until translucent. Add the lentils, cover with water, add some vegetable soup powder, curry powder and the can of tomatoes and let the mixture simmer until the lentils are soft (around 20 minutes).
During this time cut the cabbage into small pieces, and add to the soft lentils. Cook for a further 5-10 minutes (until the cabbage is done, but be careful not to overcook it).
Before serving, add the juice of one lemon (or to taste).
Can be served with rice or alternatively bread. If you like it spicy, you can also add some chili .

Jerusalem Artichokes Bake

A combination of the sweet taste of Jerusalem artichokes and horseradish make this an interesting bake with a twist.

500g of Jerusalem artichokes
1 table spoon horseradish
100ml of milk
breadcrumbs
salt, pepper

Boil the artichokes, skin on for about 30 minutes. After that time, peel the artichokes, slice them into small, chunky pieces and put them into an oven-proof dish.
Mix the milk with the horseradish, salt and pepper and if you want, add some cream or even a bit of white wine. Pour the mixture over the sliced artichokes and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
Bake in an oven at around 180C for 20 minutes, until the milk has turned creamy and the breadcrumbs are golden brown.
Photo credit: h-bomb.

Restaurant: The Place Below

Tucked away from the buzzing surroundings of the City, is a small restaurant called "The Place Below". It is, however, right in the heart of "real London", right under the St-Mary-le-Bow church in Cheapside in the crypt of the church that makes a true Londoner a real Londoner.
A word of warning: It is slightly difficult to find. Basically you need to enter the church, and you will see stairs going down into the crypt. Although the Place Below is a self-service restaurant, the surroundings are quite nice (even intimate if you manage to get one of the tables in the "caves" around the main dining area) and make you forget this. The food is definitely very nice, with a definite emphasis on healthy and flavoursome food, rather than just vegetarian: not a surprise then that brown rice, honey and wholemeal are dominant in the menue, though combined with other great ingredients. For lunch I had a "health bowl", a mix of puy lentils and brown rice with a delicious dressing made from sesame, ginger and balsamic vinegar (probably enough as a small lunch), and a Moroccan style vegetables with rice (again) and peanuts (which made a nice combination). To top it all of, there was a very delicious pear and apple crumble (yummy!) with clotted cream (ok, ....) .

The staff were noticeably very friendly and certainly made an effort to offer a service with a smile. The only down point to note is that unfortunately the Place Below is only open from 7:30 am in the morning until 3:00 pm, so no dinners - yet it would be a perfect place for a candle light dinner (unless you are scared of ghosts, presumably). A nice touch: If you are prepared to have lunch outside of the peak hours, i.e. before noon or after 1:30 pm, some dishes are £2 cheaper.

St Mary le Bow church, Cheapside, London EC2V 6AU
http://www.theplacebelow.co.uk/

Photo credit: stevecadman.

Steamed Broccoli & Tofu

This is an amazingly simple recipe. If you can get the Asian "chili in oil" sauce sold in many specialty stores, then it is perfect!

1 broccoli
500g tofu
chili in oil, soy sauce

Cut the tofu into bite sized pieces and boil in a mix of water, a bit of chili sauce and a splash of soy sauce.
Steam the broccoli florets (you can do that over the tofu if you don't boil it too much!) until it is "al dente".
In a bowl mix the steamed broccoli and tofu with some chili sauce and a little soy sauce. Serve.

Photo credit: Tzatziki.